Gay sorority
Greek, LGBT sorority women work to combine best of both worlds
Four sorority members are working to help LGBT women feel more comfortable in the Greek community.
Claire Oosterbaan and Sarrah Spohnholtz from Alpha Chi Omega, Teresa Anderson from Kappa Delta and Devin Weiss from Alpha Delta Pi founded LGBTGreek last semester.
LGBTGreek provides a safe space for LGBT members within the Greek system, Oosterbaan said. LGBTGreek is trying to make the Greek system more open toward students identifying as LGBT.
“We just keep hearing these really moving narratives of individuals being like, ‘I’m gay and in Greek life. I don’t know if there’s more out there or are those two mutually exclusive,’” Weiss said.
However, not everyone shared positive experiences of being queer in the Greek system.
Oosterbaan said she had a relatively hard time coming out.
Oosterbaan said a girl who identified as LGBT had to drop out of her sorority because she felt unwelcomed.
The national headquarters of Alpha Chi Omega recently released an inclusive message toward LGBT members, Oosterbaan said; however,
There’s a long pathway leading up to the main buildings on UCLA’s campus where students crowd around passing out flyers about acappella groups, dance teams, and Harry Potter clubs. It’s an unavoidable exercise in chaos: Shit gets more or less thrown into your face, and the only way through the blur of arms and highlighter-colored paper is to set a stride and avoid eye contact.
One day in my freshman year, before I’d learned how to survive the mess of “Bruin Walk,” a flyer was shoved into my direction. Along with literature from the “Campus Crusades” Christian group and, oddly, information to join one of the Korean student groups, I was given a flyer for Gamma Rho Lambda, which described itself as an “all-inclusive sorority.” I decided to go to a rush event, which turned out to be an ice cream social.
I poured sprinkles and caramel sauce into a bowl and sat on the floor next to a girl with pink hair and a girl with statement glasses talking about pet rats and anime movies. Everyone was nerdy and friendly, which was a far cry from the sorority girl stereotype. As the evening pr
One week ago was National Coming Out Day, and members of the LGBTQ community were proficient to celebrate the day they decided to tell friends and family members they were gay, bisexual, transgender, etc. and recall the bravery it took to do so.
While I act not have this personal experience because I am not a member of the LGBTQ community, I do know, from learning from close friends and family members, that coming out one of the most significant moments in an LGTBQ person&#;s life.
I cannot even imagine the guts and courage it takes to share your true self with those around you due to the fear that you might not be looked at the same or even be outright judged.
Because of this, I began wondering. What is the sorority experience like for girls who aren&#;t straight. Is it difficult? Do they feel verb they don&#;t fit in?
In my own personal experience in my sorority, I am not really aware of any girls who are members of the LGBTQ community. However, I perform know that they would be treated like any other sister and loved exactly the identical.
To my surprise, this has been the experience
LGBTQ+ students seek social networks, guard in fraternities and sororities
When Dylan Mason was an incoming freshman at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, his mom dropped him off at his dormitory with three earnest admonitions. “She told me: Don’t receive a tattoo, don’t get your ears pierced and don’t connect a fraternity,” chuckles Mason, 20, who recently finished his second year of college and his first year as a member of the fraternity Phi Kappa Tau. Mason, who identifies as gay, had never planned to join a fraternity. He changed his mind when he overhead members of another frat laughing at him.
“During winter recruitment, I was walking through the pupil center and heard a comment about me rushing. They thought it was funny. At the time, that really affected me,” Mason says. “I wanted to prove them wrong. So, I made it my goal to join Greek life.”
From that initial spite came genuine fellowship. “My fraternity brothers are people who probably wouldn’t have hung out with me in high noun, but now they’re some of my best friends,” says Mason, who is vice p